Arab Killed, 4 Hurt in Israeli West Bank Raid

HEBRON, Israeli-Occupied West Bank — Israeli soldiers fired on a crowd trying to stop them from making arrests during a pre-dawn raid on an Arab village Wednesday, killing one person and wounding four, witnesses and the army reported.

Neighbors identified the Palestinian killed in Shuyukh, 20 miles south of Jerusalem, as Ismail Hussein Mohammed Halaiga, 21, a university student. The army confirmed the death.

At least 55 Palestinians have been killed since riots began in the occupied territories Dec. 9, nearly all of them shot by Israeli soldiers. No Israelis have been killed in the fighting.

Wounded in Thigh

One of the wounded Palestinians, 16-year-old Khaled abu Rumei, was in a Hebron hospital with a bullet wound in a thigh.

Rumei's mother charged that soldiers broke into her house about 5 a.m. while the family was sleeping and dragged another of her sons out into the cold rain.

"I tried to protect him, and they beat me with clubs," she said at the hospital. "Later they started shooting."

She said that the scene was much the same at other houses and that soldiers began shooting when people tried to help those being seized.

Villagers Incited to Riot

An army spokesman in Jerusalem said soldiers entered the village while looking for some residents of the nearby village of Sair. On Tuesday night, the army placed a curfew on Sair, but several residents apparently slipped away during the night and went to Shuyukh and began spreading rumors that incited villagers to riot, the spokesman said.

An Israeli officer at Shuyukh said two officers opened fire when more than 100 residents began throwing stones and bottles at an army patrol.